The GB Rowing Team is the high performance arm of British Rowing. Rowing is the nation’s most continuously successful Olympic sport, having won a gold medal in every Olympic Games since 1984, and has won six Paralympic golds since the sport was introduced to the Paralympic Games programme in 2008.

Tom James retires from rowing

TWICE OLYMPIC CHAMPION and 2011 World Champion, Tom James, MBE, has confirmed his retirement from international rowing.

James won Olympic gold in the men’s four twice – in Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Both races were won in dramatic style against strong opposition.

In 2008 he won with Andrew Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Steve Williams and repeated the feat in 2012 with Hodge, Reed and Alex Gregory.

He was also in the four which set a world best time in Lucerne in 2012.

The Welshman, who is now pursuing a career with consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said: “Thank you to the sport of rowing and to the GB Rowing Team. I have had a fantastic time during my ten years in the senior squad which have been incredibly successful.

“I feel very, very lucky. London 2012 in particular was an experience that could not be bettered.
“I am not planning to distance myself from the sport, though. I am doing some work on forward planning with British Rowing’s board and I am still involved with Cambridge University Boat Club and Molesey B.C.”.

Sir David Tanner, Performance Director of the GB Rowing Team paid tribute to one of the most successful rowers of recent Olympiads when he said: “Tom is a class act both on and off the water. He enjoyed significant success with the GB Rowing Team and both of his men’s four victories at the Olympic Games are races that will linger long in the memory. Technically he is truly world class and had the capacity to make a huge impact on the boats he raced in. We wish him every success in his new career”.

James made his senior debut aged just 19 in 2003 and stroked the GB men’s eight to a World Championships bronze in that year. In 2004 he was part of the men’s eight at all three World Cups and was selected for the Olympic Games, missing out on the semi-final due to illness but going onto stroke the boat in the B Final.

Born in Cardiff but with Wrexham as his home town, James took up rowing at the King’s School, Chester, before continuing at Cambridge University where he was a Boat Race winner after three previous disappointments.

His World title in 2011 came in the men’s four with Ric Egington, Alex Gregory and Matt Langridge. He also took bronze in the pair at the Worlds in 2007 with Colin Smith.

James was awarded an MBE for his services to sport in the 2009 New Year’s Honours list.

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